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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIPJune 23, 2012Roland ThatcherCROMWELL, CONNECTICUT DOUG MILNE: Okay. Roland Thatcher, thanks for joining us for a few minutes after a successful 5‑under 65 in Round 3 at the Travelers Championship. Just some comments on the round and kind of how you're feeling heading into tomorrow and we'll take a few questions. ROLAND THATCHER: Yeah. 5‑under was a really solid round out there today. There may have been some guys that went lower. I haven't seen the board, but I thought especially earlier in the day with the way the wind was up and varying so much, I was really happy to get through the first part of the round with keeping it relatively mistake free. And then I was able to get a little bit on the back side, and it was a bit of an ugly finish but I held it together and saved a par there on 18 after the bogey on 17. Dinner will taste a little better tonight than it would have had I missed that last putt. DOUG MILNE: We've obviously talked to you on and off over the years and a lot this week, and one thing we really noticed about you is that you always seem to take everything with such a grain of salt. You just have a great time out here. You're the first to criticize yourself, you're the first to laugh at yourself, you're the first to pat yourself on the back when you're playing well. So you've gotta be a happy guy. ROLAND THATCHER: Yeah. Definitely. I guess I've been doing it long enough. This is my 11th year on one tour or the other, either Nationwide or PGA. And I guess I can't say I've figured it out, but I've figured out that I'm not ever going to figure it out. So in my mind worrying about the highs and lows hasn't really been positive for me in the past. I'm not going to figure it out. I figure when I play well I'll play well and hopefully it's going to be enough to keep the job every year. This week will go a long way towards that and we'll see how tomorrow goes. The better tomorrow goes, the less I have to do for the rest of the year to make sure I'm a member of the PGA TOUR in 2013. DOUG MILNE: With that we'll take some questions. Q. You and Brian Davis tomorrow are in the same group and neither have won on the PGA TOUR. What do you think that will be like in the final pairing and how much pressure on you guys to win? ROLAND THATCHER: I honestly think it will be great for both of us to have that kind of person along with. He's had a much more distinguished career and been closer a lot more often than I have. But paired together on Thursday, Friday this week and enjoyed each other's company. Similar style of games, so honestly, I think it's probably as good a pairing as can be expected. Q. Is there any doubt that everything you've sort of been through over the years, whether it's bounces off cart paths in Q‑School or 125, 126 on the number at the end of the year, that there's going to be drama tomorrow? ROLAND THATCHER: No doubt at all. It's going to be ‑‑ it's always interesting either positive or negative. Very rarely do I go out and play a round of golf where somebody says that was a really boring day. It's going to be interesting. It's going to be exciting one way or the other. I hope it's going to be positive for me, but there's varying levels of positive results tomorrow. It's not just about the win. I'm going to go out and try to control what I can control. But I haven't made a cut since March, and it's not really not that unusual for me. You know, there's going to be stretches where I play well and where I don't play well and if this is one of those weeks where I can close it out, it's going to be a real good week. Q. Can you just go over your card? ROLAND THATCHER: Oh, yeah. Managed to make birdie on 1 and 2 today out of the gate. They were both birdies from poor positions. I missed the fairway on No. 1, managed to get the ball up in a pretty reasonable spot, made it from 15, 18 feet, somewhere in that neighborhood, on the first hole, might have been longer. You guys probably have Shot Link. Second hole, I felt like I hit a pretty clean shot into the green. It just rolled over the back, and I chipped in from a fairly poor lie. So I really stole at least one, maybe two shots there. And really, after the fourth hole, I got into the round pretty good and started striking the ball real clean and was pretty solid from that point on. But it was nice to be three holes in and maybe not quite gotten into my round yet but not be playing catchup at that point. It was nice to pick up a couple early birdies, picked up a birdie on 6, par‑5, played solid fairway, 3‑wood just short of the green, easy up‑and‑down. Parred all the way through 12, all reasonable pars. Didn't have to work hard for any of them. Could have been a couple of situations where I might have made a few more. Hit the 13th in 2, the par‑5, 4‑iron to the green and made a two‑putt there and then hit a wedge in close, maybe 15 feet, on 14. About as close as you really want to get to that hole location anyway. Made that putt. And then 15, the drivable par‑4, left the approach shot, I hit 3‑wood just short left of the green, right where you really want to be. Pretty reasonable up‑and‑down and was able to capitalize on that, too. The bogey on 17 was probably exactly what I deserved. I hit a really poor shot off that hole. They had the tees up a little bit today and should have made it a lot easier, but for some reason it made it harder, so I hit it inside the hazard line off the tee and really made probably the smartest decision I made all day to lay it up there. Bad things could have happened if I didn't catch that shot right to one of the greens. I had a chance to maybe putt for par there, but I deserved the 5. And then 18 was a good save. Q. You say you haven't made a cut since March. What part of your game do you feel has been letting you down? ROLAND THATCHER: All of it. I mean honestly, it's not like I've been doing one thing especially bad. With the exception of maybe one week, it's not like I've been missing the cut by 10 or 15. I missed the cut by a bunch at San Antonio, but every other week I've been missing the cut by one or two here or there. I've been playing okay, but not great. In my category playing 126‑150, I haven't really played consecutive weeks. Haven't really got into any kind of rhythm. There was nothing to say this week was going to be any different, but so far it has been. Q. Ball striking, putting? ROLAND THATCHER: I wish I could tell you something that was really interesting. But just get the ball in the hole.  I have rolled the putter a little more consistently this week. I haven't given any shots away with it. May not have taken as many shots as I would have liked, but I haven't given any shots away with the putter. So that's something. And really haven't put myself in position on the tee in bad places. So yeah, I'm doing everything just a little bit better. But I'm doing nothing spectacular. It's been good enough, I guess, to be talking to you guys. DOUG MILNE: Okay. Roland, we appreciate your time as always. Best of luck tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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